Purchase a copy for yourself here! On the evening of her 25th birthday, Libby Jones receives a letter that comes to totally transforms her understanding of her origins, and open the doors to her mysterious past. Lisa Jewell’s 17th novel, The Family Upstairs, tells the story of Libby’s efforts to answer the questions posed by… Continue reading The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
Author: jecrandall44
Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
Purchase a copy for yourself here! In 1946, during the height of Jim Crow South, the Mississippi Delta was a community still beholden to the values of the Antebellum South: racial discrimination and violence were the norm. It is in this fraught landscape that Hillary Jordan set her debut novel, Mudbound, which explores the lives… Continue reading Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
Invisible Women by Caroline Criado-Perez
Purchase a copy for yourself here! Caroline Criado-Perez has devoted her activist career to amplifying the voices of marginalized females in the public space. She was an instrumental part of campaigns to rework Twitter’s online abuse policies, to get a female historical figure on the back of British banknotes, and to install a statue of… Continue reading Invisible Women by Caroline Criado-Perez
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Purchase a copy for yourself here! In 1990’s England, Kazuo Ishiguro imagines a dystopian alternate reality—a boarding school beset with human clones. This school, Hailsham, is the setting of Ishiguro’s 2005 novel, Never Let Me Go. The novel is constructed as a sort of memoir, narrated by Kathy, an adult female “carer” (the meaning of… Continue reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Purchase a copy for yourself here! The community of Shaker Heights, Ohio was the first fully planned community to spring up in America. The Shakers built a town beholden to strict aesthetic and moral codes, laying out residential streets, schools, and businesses according to rigorous family-friendly standards. This suburban oasis is the setting for Celeste… Continue reading Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
In the Land of Men by Adrienne Miller
Purchase a copy for yourself here! In 1997, Adrienne Miller became the first female literary editor of the venerable Esquire magazine at the early age of 25. By this time Esquire had published fiction from some of America’s most distinguished literary voices, including Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Norman Mailer. In her new memoir,… Continue reading In the Land of Men by Adrienne Miller
The Immortals of Tehran by Ali Araghi
Purchase a copy for yourself here! Few nations experienced as much political turmoil as Iran did in the twentieth century. Colonialist interests and corrupt government robbed the country of its main natural resource and profit generator, oil, sparking years of unrest and bloody conflict. For a brief history lesson: after the Second World War, Iran… Continue reading The Immortals of Tehran by Ali Araghi
Super Pumped by Mike Isaac
Purchase a copy for yourself here! The “cult of the founder” is a widely discussed Silicon Valley phenomenon that has circulated in recent years is an integral part of understanding various missteps made by tech corporations. The “cult of the founder” describes a company culture in which the founder (usually also serving as CEO), is… Continue reading Super Pumped by Mike Isaac
Long Bright River by Liz Moore
Purchase a copy for yourself here! For the title of her fourth novel, Long Bright River, Liz Moore borrowed a phrase from an Alfred Lord Tennyson poem, which describes a race of people who, “Sow the seed, and reap the harvest with enduring toil,Storing yearly little dues of wheat, and wine and oil;Till they perish… Continue reading Long Bright River by Liz Moore
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Purchase a copy for yourself here! Literary criticism in the modern age has been forced to confront the increasing democratization of the art space, as tools like the internet allow greater access to what was previously considered “high art”, reserved for only the most sophisticated intellectuals. As the distinction between highbrow and lowbrow entertainment has… Continue reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt